Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

Weavers were French silk weavers of the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

faith. They came from major silk-weaving cities in southern France, such as

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

and

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. They fled from religious persecution, migrating from mainland Europe to Britain around the time of

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

, 1685.

Migration

It is estimated that there were 500,000 Protestants in France in the 1680s, of which 180,000 migrated. 60,000 went to the Dutch republic, 50,000 went to England and 20,000 to Switzerland. Ireland took 10,000 and Denmark 2000 while others left Europe: 3,500 to the Americas and 400 to South Africa.Interpretation panel at Rochester's Huguenots' Museum.

Huguenot weavers in the United Kingdom

They settled first in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

; then some 13,050 moved to Spitalfields in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Their arrival had a major impact on the area economy, and Spitalfields consequently became known as "weaver town." Others moved further, to the silk weaving town of Macclesfield. Their arrival challenged the English weavers of cotton, woollen and worsted cloth, who subsequently learned the Huguenots' superior techniques. The influx of silk weavers greatly influenced the fashion tastes of the upper-class English, who began to incorporate more silk into their attire.

References

;Footnotes ;Notes {{reflist ;Bibliography Huguenot history in the United Kingdom